The Day a Voice from Katondo Became TAP C The morning I met the man behind the voice that would become part of my musical journey There are certain moments in life that seem completely ordinary when they happen, but years later, when you look back, you realise that they were quietly changing the direction of your life. For me, one of those moments happened in Katondo, Kabwe, on an ordinary morning when I was walking home with my high school friend, Hillary Chikoko. We had gone to the shops to buy bread, and as we made our way back, neither of us could have imagined that a simple walk through the neighbourhood would introduce me to someone who would eventually become part of my music story. As we approached my grandfather's residence, we heard a young man singing from the home of my grandfather's opposite neighbour, Mr Mukuka. His voice immediately caught my attention. He was singing K-Million's popular song "Niwe Weka," and there was something about the wa...
THE CHINDWIN SENTRIES: A KABWE BAND THAT TOOK ZAMBIA BY STORM.
Zambian music arena could not have been so explosive without including the Sentries.
This was an Army sponsored band that popped up in the middle of a wild and aggressive Zamrock pack which included pioneers like Tinkles, Mosi O Tunya, Amanaz, Cross Bones, Great Witch and Born Free, among them.
The Chindwin Barracks outfit became an instant hit especially that its music was coming from a background of heavy rock of the Deep Purple, Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, Santana and Jimi Hendrix.
However, the Sentries music had a rich mix that had always been a hallmark of the band throughout its history.
But just like any other band that thrived and disappeared at the close of the 70s and early 90s, so were the Sentries and although the local music industry had also collapsed at the same time, the group’s demise was gradual while holding on to the weakening survival thread.
One can recall that some of the band’s danceable hits, not forgetting, Turn Around, I feel Alright, Survival and Sentries Connection, can easily cause the current generation react wildly.
Towards the 1980s, the band recorded a couple of singles but among the most popular were Leta Lubono and Chiindi Chamana.
But the mid 1980s saw some of the members retired by the Army command and this somewhat slowed down the band’s prospects.
There as a fusion of new blood that saw Mukuka heading the group on lead guitar while Captain Austin Chewe, now a prominent business executive and politician becoming the band manager.
But the band did not go far especially after the departure of Captain Chewe and neither did it enter the recording studios.

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